A peep into Pak ‘jehad factories’

Training modules are heady mix of religious lectures, military regimen

NEW DELHI: A typical day in a Pakistani ‘jehad factory’ starts at 3.30am with a military style hooter signalling to all recruits that their day has started. In the next half hour, all recruits gather for their first of many religious prayers of the day, with ‘Namaz-e-Tahajjud’, and in the next 19 hours or so they pray more and attend sessions on physical exercise, weapons training and plotting grid references to enhance their map reading skills.

Mohammad Naveed Yakub, a Pakistani recruit of Lashkar-eTaeba (LeT) arrested in Jammu and Kashmir’s Udhampur on August 5 after he along with an associate opened fire on a BSF bus killing two personnel in an apparent suicide attack, has provided a fascinating glimpse into such ‘jehad factories’ flourishing in Pakistan.

“The training modules are a heady mix of religious lectures and military regimen,” said an interrogator of Naveed, who has also given a confessional statement before a magistrate under Section 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code.

According to a training schedule provided by Naveed, at 4.45, all recruits offer ‘Fzr Namaz’, followed by a two-hour physical exercise session at 5.30 am.

Next on the timetable is a onehour class on Hadith, and then breakfast, which is followed by a two-hour weapons training session. After weapons training, the recruits head for lectures on jehad. Lunch is followed by a rest for three hours and more sessions on teachings of the Quran. Recruits then retire for sleep at 10 pm.

“The recruits are also trained to read maps by plotting grid references, using Global Positioning System sets, compass reading and while working with Google Earth. Sometimes exercise sessions are held at night, with jungle marches. Naveed told investigators his trainers repeatedly showed grid references and asked them to locate the position on a map,” said the interrogator.

During weapon training sessions, each recruit was asked to fire 100 rounds from an AK-47 assault rifle, five rounds from a Light Machine Gun and 10 rounds from an pistol. They were trained in handling grenades as well, said interrogators.

Naveed attended his first training in 2011 at Lashkar’s Kulahri camp in Manshera of Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It was focused on religious indoctrination and physical fitness.

The next two trainings took place between August and December 2014 and between February and May, 2015.

After the trainings, Naveed was launched across the border to carry out a suicide attack.